". . . to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor." Isaiah 61

Friday, July 11, 2008

TREX '08, Thursday

Thursday, we were once again divided into two groups -- one stayed at camp while the other went caving. I was in the caving group. We drove about 1.5 hours, and had lunch outside the cave. We walked, hopped, crawled, and rolled all the way to the back, and then all the way back out. . . I will not complain, but I must say that all the bruises on my elbows, sides, hips, and knees were not worth the little we saw in the cave. :) At the back of the cave was a tunnel, about 50 yards long and about 4 ft. deep. Two of those feet were filled with freezing cold water. (Yes the bottom two, for you smart alecks out there.) Mark expressed it the best I believe. After we got out of the cave and back on the bus - cold, shivering, dirty - I asked him what he thought of our excursion. He was trying to find the words. . . and eventually he just shrugged his shoulders a few times. ;) When we got back, we all showered, and I have never enjoyed a shower more! I could hardly get the zipper of my jeans open, it was so full of sand and mud. After dinner, the camp director told us to go put on clothes that we could cross the river in. Well I was not thrilled about the possibility of getting wet again, but I obeyed. lol. We walked through the woods (it had been raining, so the trails were kind of muddy), and across the river to a sand bar. There we split up for our Bible memory times. And it was then that my attitude finally stopped being stinky. As I focused on God's word, I was able to appreciate all the positive things of the day, and forget abou the little things that had bothered me. After Bible memory time, Pastor Greg spoke. ust as he was wrapping up his prayer, it began to pour on us! We all huddled around the campfire, soaked through. Eventually we headed back, rather than doing s'mores like planned.

The morning was so foggy. . . the camp is in a sort of valley and it was gorgeous.

Riding the bus. . .

Joel. He looks prepared to go caving. . . ??

So this shows a little bit of how dirty it was. . . you can see Ben's shirt. We were too cold and tired to take many photos.